Their drummer, Matt, who joined before their third album, did go to Berklee. Tosin, however, did not. He studied at the Atlanta Institute for Music and Media for a year after his metalcore band that preceded Animals as Leaders, Reflux, broke up. He was mostly self taught, but from what I understand Javier was Tosin's guitar teacher for a time in Tosin's youth. Their former drummer's current band, Entheos, is also worth checking out; they're often described as technical death metal or progressive metal, but they're fairly unique. Some of the more electronic influences from the first two Animals as Leaders albums were definitely from Navene, and he mixes those sort of sounds with more extreme metal in Entheos.
Navene also has guitar solo on a Warforged track, which is pretty wild when realizing how wild Navene is on drums, and all the guitar tracks on that Warforged song is pretty sick. So a lot of Entheos is basically just Navene... Navene cray
Just like anything, the more you listen to them and get to know a song - the more you can appreciate it more that just its technically ability. The more familiar you are, the less the parts sound like random notes but rather integral building blocks. Great reaction!
How not to? The chemistry between these three guys is incredible. Tosin dancing on that acoustic is so beautiful and heavenly, a good contrast with the heavy and brute tone of Javier's guitar. And Matt keeping the groove alive between these two guitars is just unbelievable.
Matt is tremendous, his timing, his precision and awkward grooves is jist incredible. But Gavin is so nasty, he always hits the sweet spot, always an eargasm!!!
I am a drummer from Japan. I play jazz and fusion. I was blown away by Matt's drumming. No one would have taken control of Rudiments like him. In addition, I can't hide my surprise at the way couplets are handled. The quintuplet of The Brain Dance should be on the textbooks of the whole world. It is clearly beyond human.
Matt Garstka is easily the most incredible drummer I have ever seen live. The dude is electric and he 100% grabs your attention - even with all that guitar wizardry going on in front of him. And then you try to make sense of the shit he's playing and your brain melts. 10/10, go see these guys.
saw them in Feb in Melbourne and he absolutely floored me... even with Tosin right in front of me I could not take my eyes off Matt... just an offensively perfect drummer
Javier has some really beautiful solo material out there. Beautiful clean chord progressions, amazing stuff! Also some of his playthroughs from Mestis are great!
Tosin attended Atlanta College of Music and Media. Lets be honest here, for people of his musical talent, the school doesn’t matter all that much. The best guitarist I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a few prodigies, was an alcoholic who lived in the middle of nowhere in Indiana. Not only could he immediately be able to capture the style of any guitarist, he had a photographic memory as well as an incredibly beautiful musically creative mind. So, he could not only play anything after one listen, he could also improvise something so captivating that it felt like life made sense during the moments of those notes. And then you’d look at his walls and they were covered with pin up girls and his floor was a wasteland of empty Jack Daniels bottles.
Judson hardly blinked watching this; imagine how people who cannot play a note perceive this. He can play songs on the piano by ear, so things like AAL to laypeople sound like an alien code.
@@Greatmeasures Goldblum is using his teleportation machine to go back and forth in time to fight dinosaurs and defeat aliens simultaneously with a Macbook. He is everywhere and nowhere. He is here right now.
@@alanbator5118 I still need to get into their catalog, but they remind me of jazz. If you can't get into many abstract sounds and changes of pace and tone, this is not for you.
@@rl318Yep, totally agree. My father played his way through undergrad (Tenn State) and grad (U Mich) schools in various jazz ensembles. I never caught the bug though, but I was exposed to all the abstract stuff at a young age, and this hits me the same way. Garstka’s rhythms, however, are far more complex than anything I ever heard, even in the jazz world.
I think it's best said this way: Animals As Leaders deserves a second listen, I don't think a lot of their music is something that can be processed within one listening session. Once you figure out the basis for each song, the little touches peppered throughout really come out to shine. Perhaps that's a turn-off for some people, but it also means there's incredible replay value in what they write and perform. Long commutes make for great analyses.
Mr Judson has a great ear and sense of musicallity, but i agree there is a sense of disconnect. This is the conceit of the channel. He exemplifies an educated, more classical perception of what music should be. Modern metal, as jazz did before it, subverts these preconceptions. Neither perspective is correct/wrong. Art is subjective
@FunkadelicPancho im going to have to say your compleatly wrong on him not knowing theory. He knows his shit and has very good ear training. Ive only seen a couple video's and he is absolutly someone i would hire or work with.
Ähhh what?! What a freaking awesome mix of music stiles. Jazzy flamenco meshuggah even some kind of new age influence :D crazy Didn't know their music before, just heard the name a few times. Thank you!!
I get what Judson says, completely. I love the way that all of that complexity just 'washes' over you, at the first listen. To me, the first listen is always magical, but I understand the feeling of being overwhelmed. I was wondering if you guys have heard of Jose Gonzalez. He makes the guitar talk but in a much more cohesive way, the complexity with his songs are more 'subversive,' with more 'ghost notes' and the like. I would suggest 'Slow Moves' from his album 'Veneer.'
Yay! Love Animals…I actually had heard of them but hadn’t listened to them before I saw them live with Devin Townsend and Dream Theater…it was quite a surprise! They are amazing live…no need for vocals! I just kept squinting my eyes looking for a bass 🤣
Dreamsonic was an amazing tour. I went to the Vancouver show (Devin's hometown). I saw Devin Townsend and Animals as Leaders back in 2014 but they just keep getting better - especially live
They changed so much, they have more of a refined sound now I would say. More matured for sure, the first album was pretty much all Tosin, and I think some riffs are Misha mansoor from periphery. But you can definitely hear a difference when Javier started writing with Tosin. Love the first album, a lil more on the heavy side but it’s cool to see the gears kinda falling into place after that. Great great band and musicianship.
That feeling of letting a friend listen to a song that changed your life and getting their feedback from it. It's pure elation. AAL is simply the greatest band ever.
i see AAL as relatable insanity ... as a bass player i was initially put off by the lack of bass - until i realized Javier was filling the role nicely on the 8 string. i know just enough theory to know i don't understand a lot of what tosin/javier write - but systemically my body enjoys it.
The point about the writing of the songs and the nearly inscrutable mysteries of how one would even go about writing/orchestrating a song like this is really great. It's all essentially magic until you know the trick. Painting is a really good example of "how the hell did he even DO that??" and then you see the artist going through the process and the process is revealed. So you can either appreciate the process when you next come across something that uses that effect, or you can try to adopt it and work it into your own processes. You don't know, until you know.
I might be wrong, but I think that the only guy who went to berkley was Matt, the drummer. He and Javier are the theoretical brains of the band, I think. Tosin comes with the unreal ability and creativity
@@evylrune He also went to Atlanta Institute of Music for a period of time. He's definitely a big part of the sound of the band, considering their first album was basically just Tosin and Misha Mansoor.
The facial expression was absolutely perfect as a first time listener to AAL, especially if you're a musician. I don't know if you could pack more innovative talent into one band than these guys. I've been lucky to have seen them perform twice. And the last time was absolutely transformative.
My favorite part of this video is the joy on the metalheads face watching his friend experience this for the first time. What a treat Animals As Leaders are. Nice to see two friends appreciating amazing music.
That "Sweater Song" intro was Lit 🔥 Tosin Abasi is God Tier Mode meets Extra-Terrestrial meets chatGPT on steriods on guitar. Not too mention Javier and Matt Garksa in sync on some other dimension. the chordal Resolution right before Tosin picks up the 8 String is superb. 🤌
Definitely one of the most innovative bands active today. High strangeness is a term typically applied to paranormal events but it also applies to Tosin’s approach to harmony. It sounds like he listened to a lot of Holdsworth, Wooten, and Meshugga. One of the primary aspects of this band that I find so appealing is its unpredictability. My ears are pretty jaded and this is one of the few artists out there that can really hold my attention. This song isn’t an ideal starting point of entry but there is definitely a universal hook hidden within all the music that could still appeal to the non musical minded listeners. Personally the first album and the latest are my favorites but overall every album is stunning…
For me, this is the most balad song of AAL. It's like Spirit Carries On of Dream Theater or Nothing else matters of Metallica or Deargod of Avenged Sevenfold 😁
Hi! Just wanted to say, please keep this format up! I mean uninterrupted listening, with no stops and commentary during the song. Reactions to music are portrayed by emotions, not the words
100%. Tigran is a bit of a genius. Even when I find a song I don't care for I still appreciate the approach. It's always unique but is still deeply rooted in some key elements like jazz, traditional Armenian music, and mathrock.
You should watch Javiers Solo stuff as well. Really great music. My brain is also still dancing. But part of Tosins formula is take a very common chord progression of 3 or 4 bars, speed it up to one bar arpeggio. This gives the listeners something that is familiar to them. On top of that they can add crazy stuff as 3+5+5+3 = 4 * 4 = 16. On top of that they like to slow down a melody into the chord progression. This gives the length fills and works because they mix time signatures. Their drummer must be a real beast. While Tosin and Javier usually stay within one time signature for one part he has to count all patterns at all time.
Non metal, but I'd be curious to see a reaction to Covet by Basement. Sorr of soft grunge 90s influenced emo band. Judson seems to love the 90s feels, or Using by Sorority Noise.
Nice. Now that you've done some AAL and some Devy I suggest you go check out the small riff out they did at Rick Beato's studio with John Petrucci. Just a mindblowing display of guitar prowess.
If you haven't seen the recent podcast, Devin interviews Tosin for about an hour and it's so good. Devy is def my favorite musical artist currently alive, reminds me a lot of Zappa.
I just can't get enough of Garstka. Obviously the whole trio is something else, but man Garstka has some of the most unique way of writing drums and the way he plays is graceful af. Like "pianist" said, the stuff they play isn't actually so complex, but the drum parts are absolutely insane. I can play pretty much each of their song on guitar, but I don't have enough brains to play those drum parts.
This song is great, but it's definitely not the first song from AAL that I'd show someone. This song was a very very different sounding treat that they gave to us
I feel this, Para Mexar, Another Year, and similar songs are some of the best to first show people, especially those who generally aren't into metal. Gives them something to latch onto and maybe return to heavy music with a more open mind later
When you learn some of the techniques that Tosin uses (he actually teaches many of them for free on his youtube channel) you discover how to write some of the Tosin-like riffs/phrases. I think some of it comes out of the fact that the techniques can have an odd number of notes and he will just immediately repeat them rather than take a rest, which gives many of the off time phrasing. However, this is not something where he just uses a technique and that's that, he somehow takes that initial technical idea and leverages it to compose incredible sounding music, so even when you learn the technique he's vastly far away from you in terms of composition and the extent that he's taken the technique to. It's really inspiring at first and then when you understand what he's doing and you try it you realize how outrageous what he's accomplished is.
Y’all should check out a band called Native Construct. It was a group of guys from Berkeley who released this album as a school project. They’re a theatrical prog metal group. My fav song is Passage! They have a few play through a on YT as well.
If you’re a pianist, I highly recommend a side project that their drummer Matt did with a couple other fantastic musicians called GEM, my personal favourite is Torque by GEM.
some musicians are so awkward lol. but yeah, love how they listen to the whole song first. too many videos like this have people breaking up the song as it goes even though they are first time listeners. hate that.
Tosin definitely has tricks, but theyre not tricks that make playing his songs any easier 😂 Id recommend watching "Tosin Abasi on Playing with All Fingers and Double Thumb Picking" he makes it look and sound so easy but his timing and precision is just amazing. "You already know how to play with your left hand" Not like that, Tosin, not like that 🤣
There are 2 extra strings on top. I don't know if this is true for this song, but generally the bottom 6 strings are e standard, 7th string is b and top string is e.
If you're gonna do something from the first album next may I propose considering the opener "Tempting Time". Obviously everyone ends up going with "CAFO" (mostly because there's a music video for it), but as great a song as it is, can come off as a bit of a shredfest on first listen and takes a few listens perhaps for it to sink in and hit proper. Every channel starts right out the gate with CAFO over Tempting Time 99 times outta 100, it would be a nice change and much cooler for perspective sake to hear that first. "If you don't eat yer Tempting Time, you can't have any CAFO! How can you have any CAFO if you don't eat yer Tempting Time?"
Next please react to Archspire - drone corpse aviator, Electric Callboy - Hypa hypa and last Aviations - Outliers. You gonna enjoy all of this songs, I promise!
Wish you went with the studio version, I like the mix way more than this live video EDIT: I think it's Javier's guitar, it sounds a bit weak and out of place? dunno
@11:40 - Well not too far off, but Tosin Abasi went to AIMM(Atlanta Institute of Music and Media) Matt went to Berkley and Javier went to Montgomery College.
Should check out the band The Number Twelve Looks Like You and check the song The Gardens All Nighters. They're a heavy band, not the most popular but they're very talented.... They're not comparable to Animals or Polyphia but seeing some of the other artists you've reviewed on this channel I figured I'd suggest something different that many haven't heard.
This was a delight to watch. I really appreciate your guys' reactions and insights! Animals As Leaders are utter mad scientists, the lot of them. If you're keen, I think you might dig Tesseract. They're one of the first bands that got me into progressive metal -- and to this day, one of my all-time favourites. Their blend of sweeping, cinematic melody and chugging groove are unbelievable.
